ANKENY, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence told Breitbart News exclusively here on Wednesday that current President Joe Biden has “lost a step.”
“Joe Biden is 80 years old. Like every 80-year-old, he’s lost a step,” Pence said of Biden when asked to react to the fall Biden had last week. “But make no mistake about it: Joe Biden has always been dead wrong. I’ve known him a long time. His views on foreign policy, his big spending ways, and his liberal social agenda, that all is who Joe Biden and it’s the reason why we have to defeat him. It’s clear that the Democratic Party is rallying around the failed policies of the Biden Administration and I think it’s absolutely essential that we put forward a mainstream conservative agenda grounded in the movement that has delivered victories for our party over the past many years and will deliver a victory in 2024.”
Pence, who just launched his 2024 presidential campaign, is challenging his former running mate, former President Donald Trump, in the GOP primary, among many other GOP candidates who have announced in recent weeks. During his address here rolling out his campaign, Pence told rally-goers that he sees a major contrast with Trump on some critical issues—and that he disagrees with Trump regarding his views on the role of the Vice President when it comes to certifying elections. That contrast from Pence versus Trump on the happenings of Jan. 6, 2021, was most direct when Pence told rallygoers he thinks anyone who puts themselves ahead of the Constitution and anyone who tells someone else to do that—as he argues Trump did with regard to the electoral college certification on Jan. 6, 2021—should “never” be president again.
Asked about this during his interview with Breitbart News, Pence reiterated his views and his contrast with Trump on several issues like abortion, the Russian war in Ukraine, and entitlement reform.
“What I said is anyone who chooses themselves over the Constitution should never be President of the United States—and anyone who asks someone to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” Pence said. “I thought it was important today to make the case about our differences in the past and our policy differences about the direction of the party and the country in the future. As I said, with regard to—I know that I did my duty on Jan. 6, upholding the requirements of the Constitution of the United States, but I thought because the president as recently as last week has said on a national stage that he thought I made a mistake that it was important to say he was wrong then and he’s wrong now. But I also made clear I had hoped he would come around. Based on his public statements even in the last week he hasn’t. I do hold the view unapologetically that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. I still hope the president comes around. We’ll still have our differences, whether it be American leadership in the world, restoring fiscal responsibility, standing unapologetically for the cause of the right to life—and we’ll have that debate—but to me it was important today that we lay out the case for what we did upholding our oaths to the Constitution of the United States and made it clear regardless of what the president said on that fateful day or regardless of whatever he has said since that I did do my duty under the Constitution.”
However, despite some in the media saying this means Pence was ruling out Trump should the latter win the nomination, Pence told Breitbart News he will in fact support the GOP nominee for president whoever it is, though he obviously hopes it is him, and he says he is confident GOP voters will select a new leader for the future.
“I’ll support the Republican nominee—especially if it’s me,” Pence said. “But I also think, I have a lot of confidence in Republican voters. You saw the enthusiasm in the crowd today. That’s the kind of enthusiasm we’ve encountered in Iowa and New Hampshire and as we’ve traveled around the country. I just think regardless of what the polls may show today that Republican primary voters are going to choose new leadership for our party and we’re going to send new leadership to the White House in 2024.”
